Ttjnxktg-piit for pianofortes



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEicE.

J. SHALER IVES, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT.

TUNING-PIN' FOB` PIANOFORTES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 3,403, dated January 6, i844.

To all tlf/10m t may concern Be it known that I, J. SHALEE Ives, ot' Bristol, in the county ot' Hart-tord and State et' Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Manner ot Straining the Strings in the Act of Timing Pianofortes and of other Stringed Musical Instruments; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and eXact description thereof.

In my improved method of straining the strings of piano-fortes, &c., instead oir' the ordinary tuning pin, I employ, with each string, a tuning pin which has a screw out on it, intended to operate as an endless screw upon a wheel which turns on pivots in a proper metallic bearing. rEhe worm wheel has a groove turned in it for the purpose of receiving the wire which is to be strained thereon. rlhe lower part of the tuning pin is inclosed by a metallic socket which is driven into the timing pin block, where it is held permanently.

Figure l, in the accompanying drawing, is a side view of a piano-'forte string, with the improved attachments; and Fig. 2, is a section through one of the pins, and through a worm-wheel- A, is the tuning pin with a screw thread cut on it, which engages with a corresponding thread on the face of the worin-wheel, B. This wheel turns on pivots, a, in the metal support, O, which may be wmade of sheet brass, or other suitable material, so bent as to form a socket at C, to receive the lower end of the tuning pin, such socket being driven into the tuning pin block, and holding the apparatus firmly in its place. The top, A, of the tuning pin is squared, to receive the key, D.

In Fig. 2, the letter B, is placed upon the part that would constitute one side of a groove turned in the worin-wheel to admit the string, and to form a shaft, b, on which it is to be wound, a hole being drilled through said shaft to hold the Wire, as shown in the drawing. It will be seen, that by this arrangement the wire may be eliectually tightened, that the strain may be given with the greatest exactness, and that the pin cannot be turned back by the tension of the string.

E, and F, represent the bridges over which the string is strained.

Having thus fully described the manner -in which I form the respective parts concerned in the tuning of piano-fortes, and other instruments of a like character, and shown the operation thereof, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The manner of forming and combining the tuning pin, the worm-wheel with its groove, and the metallic support in which they turn, so as to receive and give tension to the respective wires, as herein set forth.

JOS. S. IVES.

Yitnesses IVORY PECK, J osrAH T. PECK. 

